Dear Headliners:

U.S. House Passes SCHIP-Medicare Bill

Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the State Children’s Health Insurance and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act by a vote of 225 to 204. The CHAMP Act is broad healthcare legislation that would reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (which provides health insurance to children from low-income families) and invest an additional $48 billion dollars in the program over a period of five years. The bill is controversial because of disagreements over the expansion of children’s health insurance, increase in the tobacco tax, and cuts in payments to Medicare managed care plans.